Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny is a phrase used to express the belief that the United States was destined to expand from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. It was used to justify territorial expansion during the 19th century.¹

Fast Facts

By 1860, over 4.3 million people had settled west of the Mississippi²
Native Americans and Mexicans were displaced by U.S. westward migration³ ⁴
U.S. territory increased by 60% in the 1840s⁴

Backstory

The term was allegedly first used by John L. O'Sullivan, the editor of The Democratic Review just after The Battle of the Alamo, in order to gain support for the annexation of Texas.⁵

Quotes

"Why, were other reasoning wanting, in favor of now elevating this question of the reception of Texas into the Union, out of the lower region of our past party dissensions, up to its proper level of a high and broad nationality, it surely is to be found, found abundantly, in the manner in which other nations have undertaken to intrude themselves into it, between us and the proper parties to the case, in a spirit of hostile interference against us, for the avowed object of thwarting our policy and hampering our power, limiting our greatness and checking the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions."— John O'Sullivan, 1845⁶

The country will someday be "bound East and West by a chain of Americans which can never be broken."—President James Buchanan, 1858²

Categories

History | U.S. History

| View Note History

The Mahalo Top 7

Wikipedia: Manifest Destiny
Grinnell College: John O'Sullivan, "Annexation"... (July-August 1845)
All Empires: Was it Manifest Destiny?
Digital History: Manifest Destiny
Learner.org: America Unbridled: The Iron Horse and Manifest Destiny
From Revolution to Reconstruction: Manifest Destiny
YouTube Video: Robert Hughes - American Visions (Time 10:37)

Manifest Destiny Background and Causes

UC Santa Cruz: Manifest Destiny and Expansion in the Americas

Continentalism

Wikipedia: Continentalism
World Policy Journal: The American Empire? Not So Fast (Spring 2005)
Google Books: A Companion to the American West

"Fifty Four Forty or Fight"

Wikipedia: All Oregon | Oregon Boundary Dispute
Smithsonian Institution: The Oregon Question
Google Books: Oregon, The Struggle for Possession

Mexico and Texas

Descendants of Mexican War Veterans: The Occupation of New Mexico
U.S. Army Center of Military History: The Occupation Of Mexico, May 1846-July 1848
Military History Encyclopedia: Mexican War
Academic American History: The Republic of Texas and the Mexican-American War
Avalon Project (Yale University): Message of President Polk, May 11, 1846
Wikisource: James K. Polk's Third State of The Union Address
Son of the South: President Polk's Message To Congress On The Mexican War
Office of Medical History: The War With Mexico: Scott's Campaign

The Treaty Of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Our Documents: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)
California State Military Department: The Treaty Of Guadelupe Hidalgo
PBS: The Treaty Of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Manifest Destiny Central Figures

John L. O'Sullivan

Wikipedia: John L. O'Sullivan
Historytools: John L.O'Sullivan
Civics Online: John L. O'Sullivan

James K. Polk

Mahalo's Guide to James K. Polk
PBS: James Knox Polk
James K. Polk.org: James K. Polk
State Library of North Carolina: James K Polk

John Tyler

Mahalo's Guide to John Tyler
White House.gov: John Tyler
Wikipedia: John Tyler
Sage History: The John Tyler Administration A President without a Party

Winfield Scott

Wikipedia: Winfield Scott
Home of the American Civil War: Winfield Scott
The Story Of Virginia: Winfield Scott

Manifest Destiny Images and Media

Google Images: Manifest Destiny Photos
Yahoo! Images: Manifest Destiny Photos
YouTube Video: Robert Hughes - American Visions - Third Episode - part 1 of 6 (Time: 10:46)
YouTube Video: Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way (Time 4:07)

Manifest Destiny Books and Research

Google Books: Manifest Destiny Books
Amazon.com: Manifest Destiny Books
Questia: Andrew Jackson
Questia: Manifest Destiny A Study of National Expansionism in American History
The University of Texas at Austin: Manifest Destiny’s Legacy (609 KB)

Manifest Destiny Blogs and Articles

Political Review Net: A Republic, Not an Empire: Reclaiming America's Destiny
Rob-Payne.com: Blog Jacksonian Manifest Destiny (November 20, 2007)
TIME: Manifest Destiny (Feb. 08, 1999)

Manifest Destiny Timeline

1803: The Louisiana Purchase treaty is signed on April 30 in Paris
1839: John O'Sullivan writes of "Manifest Destiny," in the Democratic Review magazine
1845: Texas joins the Union as the twenty-eighth state on March 1
1846: Mexican troops attack US troops along the southern border of Texas on April 26
1846: U.S. Congress approves a declaration of war with Mexico on May 13
1847: March Winfield Scott begins his march inland toward Mexico City
1848: Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo is signed on February 2
1848: The U.S. adds Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico
1862: President Abraham Lincoln signs The Homestead Act on May 20

Related Pages on Mahalo

Monroe Doctrine | Mexican-American War | Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo | Oregon Trail | Louisiana Purchase | The Alamo | Civil War | Missouri Compromise

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